MGEC Board Minutes 1.26.26

Attendees:

	Present		Present
President Benton Campbell	x	Director Bill Meinholz	x
Vice President Corey Mathisen	x	Director Blake Nelson	x
Past President Forrest Hasty	x	Director Brandon JB Nelson	x
Treasurer Wes Leksell	x	Director Luke Schuette	x
Secretary Mike Rude	x	Director Mark Trogstad-Isaacson	x
Director Carroll Aasen	x	Director Hunter Vraa
Director John Dalton	x	Acting Executive Director Tony Kelly	x
Director Jared DeMaster	x	Administrative Assistant Donna Blackwell	x
Director Mitch Kiecker	x

Others in attendance:

• Cavanaugh Soules, (MPCA)

Call to Order (Benton C.)

1. Meeting called to order at 3:33pm by President Benton Campbell.
2. Motion to approve agenda (Carroll A. / Mark T-I)
   • Motion carried.

Secretary’s Report (Mike R.)

1. Motion to approve December 8^th Board Meeting minutes (Brandon N. / Corey M.)
   • Motion carried.

President’s Report (Benton C.)

1. Proposed committees:
   • Executive Committee (members defined by constitution) – Benton C., Corey M., Forrest H., Mike R., Wes Leksell, and Tony C.
   • Membership Committee – Mike R. (chair), Donna B., Benton C., Bill M., Corey M., Blake N., and Benton C.
   • Finance Committee – Wes L. (chair), Benton C., Tony K, Blake N., and Corey M.
   • Advocacy Committee – Benton C., Tony K., Hunter V., John D., Mark T-I, and Forrest H.
   • Building Committee – Benton C., Tony K., Bill M., Mark T-I, Corey M., Blake N., and Mitch K.
   • Brandon N. will be added to committees as well.
2. Donna’s contract
   • The Executive Committee provided a recommendation to the Board to approve the negotiated contract language and to include a bonus of $10,000 to cover back pay, taxes, and other compensation to July 1st of last year.
   • After discussion a motion was made to approve the recommendation with an amendment to request an update to the position description to be made within 3 months (Jared D. / Luke S.)
     • Motion carried (Blake N. & Brandon N. abstain)
   • Carroll Aasen will step down from the Board as of 1/31 due to upcoming retirement. Benton proposed appointment of the candidate from the last election with the next highest vote count to the open position (in line with past practice).  This would be Brian Giauque from MnDOT D2.  After discussion a motion was made to appoint Brian to the open Board position, assuming he is still interested (Corey M. / Brandon N.).
     • Motion carried.

Executive Director’s Report (Tony K.)

1. Provided an update on 3 current grievances.
2. Arranging an ethics seminar for February or March with Kodi Verhalen. Kodi is requesting a donation to “DiscoverE”, a nonprofit promoting STEM education, in lieu of a fee for services.
3. An upstairs tenant at the MGEC building is requesting additional office space by utilizing the upper conference room. The Building Committee will address this at its upcoming meeting.
4. Presented and discussed leave balances for Donna and Tony.

Finance Committee (Tony K.)

1. Provide present account balances.
2. Reported that W-2’s are going out this week.
3. Investigating a CPA payroll service in lieu of QuickBooks for payroll.
4. 4^th quarter taxes are being prepared by a CPA.
5. Presented and discussed profit and loss statements for December as well as June through December and January through December of 2025.

Membership (Donna B.)

1. Presented and discussed latest membership data.
2. Discussed recruitment of grad engineers and locating representatives for areas lacking them.

Vice President’s Report (Corey M.)

1. Nothing to add. 

Past President’s Report (Forrest H.)

1. Nothing to add.

Adjournment (Benton C.)

1. Motion to adjourn at 5:32pm (Forrest H. / Brandon N.)
   • Motion carried.